Rationale: why a microgreens farm?

• While the community has a consistent calorie-dense diet, it is lacking in fresh foods. This causes a variety of health complications.

• Microgreens are extremely vitamin-dense, making them ideal for supplementing and diversifying diets in humanitarian settings. 

  • FSTS has selected crops that achieve a significant portion of the daily nutrient requirements (particularly: Vit A, C, E, K) at low quantities.

Objectives

• To test if the community is willing to integrate microgreens into their diet.

• To test the success of a community-run microgreens farm.

• To determine the cost-efficiency of this solution.

• To create instructional material that can help this solution be replicated by communities in different humanitarian contexts.

What is the scaling outlook?

• Microgreen farming is a promising solution for integration into humanitarian set-ups because:

  • A) Seeds can be transported using existing humanitarian dry-food supply chains, and sprouted on-site;

  • B) Microgreens require little water and only need simple equipment for growing;

  • C) Microgreens can be harvested in under 2 weeks, meaning this intervention can support a community quickly;

  • D) Microgreens can be grown vertically, reducing their overall footprint and increasing their output per square metre

Partner organisation

• FSTS is partnering selfm.aid and launching this first pilot in July 2025 from their Skills Factory centre.

Partner organisation

• FSTS and AYISD are working together to design a pilot project in Nakivale Refugee Settlement.